The U.S. Army and Navy’s amphibious attack on Hatteras Inlet was not
exactly setting any speed records in its execution. Part of this was
by design, intended to avoid problems encountered in prior attack
attempts in wintertime. For this reason it had been prearranged to
sail in two groups, which were to rendezvous offshore
and wait for stragglers to catch up so the attack could be made as a
unified force, a not-insignificant factor given the vicious gales
that could strike the coast in the wintertime. The rendezvous had
been set for Jan. 13, and in fact the weather had been dreadful,
with many ships driven onto shoals, sandbars and land. Today,
however preparations for the initial attack, on Roanoke Island, were
firmly in hand. A Confederate ship chancing on the scene hastened to
alert Navy Sec. Mallory that he “there saw a large fleet of steamers
and transports.”

Havana, Cuba was something of a neutral port as far as Federal and
Confederate shipping was concerned. As such it was magnet for
newspaper reporters who were willing to make the sacrifice of living
in a tropical paradise with attractive women and cheap liquor while
in the pursuit of war news. One such correspondent wrote home to the
New York “Herald” of an interview with Lt. John N. Maffitt of the
CSS “Florida.” “Captain Maffitt is no ordinary character,” our
correspondent confided. “He is vigorous, energetic, bold, quick and
dashing, and the sooner he is caught and hung the better it will be
for the interest of our commercial community.” Continuing in a
slightly more moderate vein, he reported “Nobody, unless informed,
would have imagined the small, black-eyed, poetic-looking gentleman,
with his romantic appearance, to be a second Semmes, probably in
time to be a more celebrated and more dangerous pirate.”

Wednesday Jan. 20, 1864 EXECUTIVE ELECTS EXECUTION EXEMPTIONS

For all of American history it had been the ultimate responsibility
of the Commander in Chief of the armed forces to rule on the verdict
of any court-martial of a member of said forces in capital cases. In
peacetime, of course, few such cases made it as far as the
President’s desk, as the more usual punishment was fines, possibly
imprisonment, and then dishonorable discharge. Under the stresses of
war, however, the stream of orders of execution ballooned to vastly
higher numbers. In many cases the charges were the same as those
that would cause any civilian court of the day to impose a death
sentence: murder of civilians, rape and the like. There was one
category of offense, however, that was unique to the military, that
of desertion. As the war dragged on this was becoming more of a
problem, and more death sentences were being handed out. Five such
warrants reached Lincoln’s office today, and he did what he almost
invariably did, he suspended the sentences. This annoyed many
generals, who pointed out that sanctions that were unenforced were
ignored.

Friday Jan. 20 1865TEASING TREACHERY TRAPS TWO

Fort Fisher, N.C., had been a target of so many Union attacks over
the course of the war that it seemed almost incredible to both sides
that it had finally, actually, fallen to the Federals. On a large
artificial hill called “The Mound” at the entrance to the inlet
leading to the fort, a fire had been kept burning whenever it was
safe for Confederate vessels and foreign blockade runners to enter
the harbor. Not wishing to cause inconvenience, the new management
had continued the custom. Today there came sailing two blockade
runners, the “Stag” and the “Charlotte.” Seeing the cheerful fire
blazing on the Mound, their captains happily sailed into harbor,
relieved to have the long voyage, during which of course they were
completely out of touch with news of the War, behind them. They were
soon relieved of more than that, since as soon as the dropped anchor
they were promptly arrested and their ships and cargos confiscated.